PHOENIX—High-priced Los Angeles Dodgers free-agent acquisition Zack Greinke was scratched today from his second consecutive start, this time because of elbow discomfort, and is headed back to Los Angeles to see a team doctor, the Dodgers announced this morning.

Greinke, who signed a six-year, $147-million contract in the offseason, was scheduled to face his former Milwaukee Brewers teammates, but he reported mild irritation in the back of his right elbow Sunday, prompting the Dodgers to take the precautionary move of having him examined by team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache.

The team says there is no panic about the situation, but how can there not be when the biggest free-agent signing of the Guggenheim group’s young ownership tenure is being scratched with elbow problems?

The Dodgers won’t win without a couple of front-of-the-rotation arms this season, and it is unclear if Josh Beckett can regain that form. So Greinke was a major acquisition to slot into the rotation behind ace Clayton Kershaw.

There remain questions about Chad Billingsley’s health, and Korean product Hyun-jin Ryu is profiling as a back-end starter at this point. So, if this Greinke problem lingers, serious worry will be forcibly set into the minds of all concerned.

Greinke first reported elbow stiffness March 3 and missed his next scheduled start, but that was due to illness. He threw a bullpen session Friday and the Dodgers were not only optimistic about it, but manager Don Mattingly raved about how well it went, too.

“The fact that he’s not here is a little bit of a concern, but I know we are being really cautious and if you listen to Zack, he can pitch with this,” Mattingly said. “As a player, it clears your mind when you know there is nothing you’re going to hurt, so to get more information is good for him.

“I was in there when he was throwing that bullpen session the other day, and if that’s a guy that’s hurt or has something serious going on, it would be a shocker.”

If Greinke comes back from Los Angeles with a clean bill of health, he probably has three starts remaining in spring training, and he will need all of them to be stretched out enough to make his first regular season start, which is scheduled for April 2 against the defending champion and rival San Francisco Giants.

The last thing the Dodgers need is for Greinke to miss that start because of an injury. If it happens that his arm isn’t built up enough to make that appearance, or if the start has to be limited to, say, 80 pitches, then the team can live with that.

But if he isn’t on the mound because the elbow is still bothering him, Guggenheim Baseball Management might immediately see why giving such big contracts to pitchers is a risky practice.

Greinke has been relatively injury-free in his nine-year career, averaging more than 200 innings pitched. He tied for the major-league lead with 34 starts in 2012, when he was a combined 15-5 for the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Angels.